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What triggered the Belfast riots?

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Unionist leaders say a forum to discuss community concerns will meet Thursday

Police and their vehicles are attacked in a 5th night of violence in East Belfast

The Belfast City Council meets for the first time since its controversial flag ruling

Authorities accuse a loyalist extremist group of ''orchestrating violence''

Pro-British political groups planned to meet this week as part of an effort to defuse tensions and stem some of the worst violence in Northern Ireland in recent memory.

Rioting flared for a fifth-straight night in East Belfast on Monday as protestors attacked police with firebombs, hatchets and sledge hammers.

Authorities accused loyalist extremists of exploiting a decision last month by Belfast officials to stop a century old tradition of flying the Union Jack over City Hall year round.

The leaders of the two main unionist political parties said on Tuesday they would hold a "Unionist Forum" on Thursday at Stormont to address underlying grievances peacefully.

The forum seeks "to engage with the entire unionist community and to address issues of concern. It will seek to channel unionist efforts through political means," said First Minister Peter Robinson, of the Democratic Unionist Party, and Mike Nesbitt, of the Ulster Unionist Party.

It was not clear if representatives for the protesters would attend.

The British flag has long been a flashpoint between British loyalists -- primarily Protestants who want to remain part of the United Kingdom, and Irish nationalists calling for Northern Ireland to join Ireland.

The City Council vote followed a summer of heightened tensions between Northern Ireland's Catholic and Protestant communities. Riots in September left dozens of police injured.

About 400 people gathered at Belfast City Hall on Monday as the council met for the first time since voting in December to fly the British flag only on certain days, police said.

Demonstrators called for the decision to be reversed. The event was mostly peaceful and was organized via social media, authorities said.

The scene was very different in East Belfast. About 250 people targeted police with gasoline and paint bombs, fireworks and heavy masonry.

Police fired plastic bullets and water cannon in response.

Photos: Northern Ireland erupts with protests 10 photos

Photos: Northern Ireland erupts with protests10 photos

Northern Ireland erupts with protests over flag flying – Loyalist protesters confront police as they gather at Belfast City Hall during a City Council meeting in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Monday, January 7. Violence flared for the fifth consecutive night in Northern Ireland as pro-British demonstrators protested the council's decision to limit the number of days the British Union Jack flag can be flown above the City Hall.

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Photos: Northern Ireland erupts with protests10 photos

Northern Ireland erupts with protests over flag – Protesters set up a burning roadblock in Belfast on Monday.

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Photos: Northern Ireland erupts with protests10 photos

Northern Ireland erupts with protests over flag – Police dressed in riot gear protect the City Hall as loyalist protesters gather on Monday.

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Northern Ireland erupts with protests over flag – A couple sit at a bus stop wrapped in British union flags as police vehicles protect the back of the City Hall on Monday.

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Photos: Northern Ireland erupts with protests10 photos

Northern Ireland erupts with protests over flag – Damage can be seen around the city following the overnight protests on Monday.

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Photos: Northern Ireland erupts with protests10 photos

Northern Ireland erupts with protests over flag – A car burns after the protests on Sunday, January 6.

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Northern Ireland erupts with protests over flag – Loyalists march outside Belfast City Hall on Saturday, January 5.

The majority of Ireland gained independence in 1921 following two years of conflict. But six of the nine counties of the province of Ulster chose to stay in the United Kingdom, eventually becoming the country of Northern Ireland.

In the late 1960s, the conflict between mainly Protestant loyalists, who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom, and largely Roman Catholic nationalists, who want it to be reunited with the rest of Ireland, exploded into a political and sectarian war, known as "the Troubles."

The three decades of ensuing violence between loyalists and the IRA claimed more than 3,000 lives, most of them north of the border. While the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, also known as the Belfast Agreement, effectively ended the conflict, distrust remains between Catholics and Protestants.

Under the terms of the accord, groups on both sides dumped their weapons, and members of Sinn Fein, the political affiliate of the IRA, now work with pro-British politicians in Northern Ireland's power-sharing government.